Startup Fashion-Ade turns a woman’s closet into data
By Allan Maurer
What does an angel investor know that helps if she decides to launch a company of her own? That’s what we wanted to know from Ella Dyer, formerly a principal at JTD Portfolio Management, an angel fund that invested in a number of successful enterprises.
Ella Dyer, a former angel investor, says, “Bet on the jockey, not the horse”
Dyer, who has 20 years experience in bringing companies to market from the startup to the mezzanine level, co-founded Abundant Closet with partner Jody Fennell, another tech veteran, in late 2008.
“When Jody and I first started talking about this two years ago,” Dyer says, “She was saying she had nothing to wear to work. I was shocked. She’s very fashionable. Her closet in the Atlanta suburbs is bigger than her apartment was in Manhattan. We began thinking, this is just data hanging in your closet. We should be able to build an algorithm to manage it. I liked the idea so much I bought into the company.”
Abundant Closet has developed a product called Fashion-Ade.com, a virtual closet and e-stylist that helps women find and buy clothes that match the wardrobe they already have. They go online, setup an account and enter data about the styles, colors, and fabrics and accessories and then can shop for items they that match. Its outfit engine presents them with products that would update an outfit specific to each consumer.
There is also a social media component that let’s them share potential choices with friends on Facebook, say, and ask, “What do you think?”
“We’re a Pandora for a woman’s wardrobe,” Dyer explains. “We’re designed to help a woman get dressed and get on with her busy life.”
Jody Fennell, formerly with Weather.com, knows how to develop site traffic
Flying with Angel’s wings
Dyer tells us she started the business with Fennell because one of the lessons she learned on the investment side of the startup business is “Bet on the jockey, not on the horse.” Fennell, formerly with Weather.com, “Had experience managing massive amounts of data and driving traffic to a web site,” she says. “My confidence in her as a founding partner was very high.”
Fennell arrived at Weather.com in 1999, after initially working for The Weather Channel and grew its traffic from 8 million to 35 million unique users in six years. “She knew where her audience was hanging out,” says Dyer. “So she went to AOL and others and formed partnerships and alliances. She knows exactly what we’re doing with online retailers.”
Dyer says that the angel fund she worked with invested in companies where it could also take a managerial position, “So we had enough skin in the game to make sure the investment paid off. That’s what I’ve done personally with Abundant Closet,” she notes.
Abundant Closet has tapped into the Atlanta entrepreneurial ecosystem with some success. “We were introduced to the Georgia Tech Advanced Technology Development Center. Through them we met the Startup Chicks and won their pitch competition.” That in turn led to an introduction to an angel investor who they believe will work with them, contacts with entrepreneurs, bankers and lawyers who provided advice, and acceptance to showcase at this year’s Venture Atlanta.
The company initially raised funding from friends and family in one of the most difficult times since the Depression. Next it will likely seek an angel or venture capital round in the $2 million range. “My experience with the angel fund helped me know we want investors who have a network of contacts that can help and who can give advice,” Dyer says. “One of our early investors was able to introduce us to the powers-that-be at Saks 5th Avenue, one of our three launch partners, because of his network.”
The Fashion-Ade website helps a woman match new purchases to her existing wardrobe
The company’s other initial retail partners are Dillards and Zappos.
The company’s Beta site went live just several weeks ago. “We took our time in the vetting process,” Dyer says. “We wanted to make sure we weren’t a universe of two. That’s another thing I learned from working with the angel fund. It’s important to verify the market.”
Make something and sell it
Another lesson, she adds, is that “You have to make something and sell it, not necessarily in that order.” So the Abundant Closet team talked with retailers and decided how they would monetize the concept. “We’re continuing to deepen our relationships with online retailers who spends tens of millions a year to reach consumers. We are providing them with a solution to increase their reach and conversion.”
But that’s not all. “Our secret sauce is the data we collect in aggregate on the consumer. We know what’s in her closet, where she’s wearing it, and what she’s adding to it.” That has already stirred interest from potential retail partners.
And, with mobile commerce acquiring hot button status, developing a mobile app “Is on our short list,” says Dyer. “We envision a consumer taking it into her closet to add items to their virtual waredrobe, or taking it along while shopping to make sure they don’t have the same silhouette in the same color.”
It’s easy for men to joke about the time women take getting dressed, but study after study has shown that appearance is important in a business context, particularly for women. It affects promotions, raises, and how people are treated.
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